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NRL says players brainy as well as brawny

MARK COLVIN: It's a sport known for its bone crunching on field performances, and unfortunately for the off field antics of some of its players.

But it seems the NRL is trying to rebrand the code as more of a thinking man's game. Today, the NRL named its Academic Team of the Year.

The NRL says it's encouraging players to think more carefully about their future after they retire from the game.

Timothy McDonald reports.

(Sound of song, "Bring back the Biff")

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Matty Johns' character Reg Reagan is a caricature of 1970s rugby league: hirsute, beer swilling, bloated around the belly and itching for a fight.

The NRL doesn't suggest that its players have all renaissance men, cloistered away in their spare time studying the bigger questions or curing cancer in a lab somewhere. But the Welfare and Education Committee chairman, Mark Coyne says they're increasingly aware that there's more to life than footy.

MARK COYNE: Think that we've learnt the lessons about the need to make sure that our players have an occupied mind when they're not doing their sport and you know I think that we're now starting to see that come to fruition.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: So is the NRL going to be the thinking man's game?

MARK COYNE: I think so. You look at the team named today - there's actually a lot of forwards in there, no halfbacks which is quite surprising. So yeah look I think it is a game that certainly continues to evolve.

It's always obviously known as a working class man's game but you know I think today demonstrates that you know not only are we moving forward and helping educate players but we're certainly preparing them better for life after football.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Now that you've named the team, what do you do with it? Do you take on the AFL in an academic decathlon?

MARK COYNE: (Laughs) Might be, we might have some type of quiz you reckon? That would be very funny. Actually I wouldn't mind doing that. It would be quite interesting to see how that went off. I reckon we'd go alright.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: So does the west's Tigers' captain, Robbie Farah.

ROBBIE FARAH: Umm trivia night maybe? Yeah get us together for a trivia night. Not too sure, there's some pretty cluey customers in that team so I don't think we'd go too bad.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: What's the square root of 64?

ROBBIE FARAH: Eight.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Robbie Farah has a degree from Sydney University, owns a restaurant and runs a charity.

ROBBIE FARAH: It took me a while to finish my degree, I think eight years. So I didn't do it at record pace but I got there eventually and just glad that I did finish it.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: So do you have plans for once you finish playing league?

ROBBIE FARAH: In terms of my degree I'm not too sure. Obviously I'm glad that I've got it. It's something that I'll always have and be able to fall back on. I'd love to be able to stay in the game if I can but yeah I've still got a few years left in League so I'll worry about that when I finish.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: And he's not the only one trying to leave himself options for when he quits the game. Sam Perrett plays for the Sydney Roosters.

SAM PERRETT: So I've done a cert III in carpentry and we've just finished a diploma in business. So that's pretty much it at the moment.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Is this with an eye to having a career once you're done with League?

SAM PERRETT: Yeah absolutely mate. Definitely. I've kind of always been toying with all the different trades and things, you know, I love hands-on stuff.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Reg Reagan mocks an era of players who were often weekend warriors who held down jobs during the week. It's quite a different lifestyle from the elite, full time players who have come to dominate the sport.

But Paul Gallen, who plays for the Cronulla Sharks, says the downside of full time football is that some players don't have anything to fall back on.

PAUL GALLEN: Yeah I've seen that over the past. Yeah I've been, you know, been involved in the game for about 12 years now and there's definitely guys who leave the game without a lot and don't have too much to fall back on. And that has been my biggest thing, always wanted to have something to fall back on.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: The NRL says it has made a concerted effort to change the culture of the game through educational grants and a policy that stops under-20 athletes from playing if they're not working or studying.

Fourteen per cent of top grade players are enrolled in or have completed a university degree, while 55 per cent are enrolled in some kind of vocational education.